Korea, China, Russia and Mongolia held four-way talks on copyright law and intellectual property (IP), strengthening their cooperation on patents, trade secrets and trademarks. The workshop held in Seoul on April 14 and 15 saw policymakers and academics from the four nations discuss progress on copyright protection in each country and ways to improve bilateral and multilateral cooperation. The workshop was jointly organized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Korea Copyrights Commission. Since 2006 and in cooperation with the WIPO, the ministry has been working every year to improve the copyright protection system in neighboring nations and sought international cooperation through the workshop.

The WIPO Sub-regional Workshop between Korea, China, Russia and Mongolia is held in Seoul. (photo courtesy of the MCST)

Participants in the WIPO Sub-regional Workshop included the National Copyright Administration (NCAC), the Intellectual Property Office of Mongolia (IPOM), the Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent), and the Russian State Academy on Intellectual Property (RSAIP). Gao Hang, director of the copyright development division, also participated as a representative of the WIPO, a co-organizer of the workshop.

On April 14, Park Young-guk, copyright general director at the ministry, and Gao Hang discussed the joint trust fund project, which will mark its 10-year anniversary in 2015. They also talked about further cooperation on improving the copyright protection environment across the world, diversifying the program and about expanding the number of participating countries in this sub-regional meeting.

At the workshop, policymakers from the four nations gave presentations on copyright laws in their countries and suggested ways to expand international cooperation. Academics discussed recent issues related to copyright law and ways to find a balance between the use and the protection of intellectual property. They also talked about cooperation between governments and academia, and ways to improve the copyright protection environment.

Chinese representatives discussed the implementation of copyright laws and regulations and amendments regarding various issues, including the protection of intellectual property rights for computer software as well as the introduction of a copyright registration system. Russia talked about copyright regulations and amendments related to copyright protection, as well as laws that would prohibit illegal copies of information on the Internet. Russia also explained the establishment of the Eurasian Economic Community between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, and progress made on multilateral cooperation, as well as bilateral copyright agreements with its trade partners.

Participants in the workshop discuss copyright regulations in their countries and ways to cooperate. (photo courtesy of the MCST)

Mongolia discussed recent copyright issues, such as database rights, the transfer of exclusive rights and derivative works. Korea explained the recent decline in the illegal copy market and the rise in public awareness of intellectual property rights, both as a result of the amendments of related laws. It also noted that millions of copyrighted government works have recently become available for public use.

Finally, the participants agreed to continue holding copyright workshops in the years to come and to keep the format where policymakers and academics share their ideas. They also decided to add specific issues including the infringement of digital copyrighted works and to hold the next workshop in either Russia or Mongolia.